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So I've been patiently awaiting Dead Rising for the 360. After playing the Demo and downloading the webisodes I was sold to pick it up the day it was released (I love me some Zombies).

I'm a bit into the game, and while many parts of it absolutely ROCK, I do have to pass this warning onto anyone who buys it (because they certainly don't make it abundantly clear to you):

THE SAVE SYSTEM IN THIS GAME IS SO UNBELIEVABLY WHACKED.

1) First off, you can only have one game saved per gamertag and storage device. Have a wife, sibling, friend, etc who wants to play the whole game but doesn't have a gamertag? You best have a memory card available, cause otherwise they're totally out of luck!

Worse yet is that out of the box there is no fun "Zombie Attack mode" or something where you can just sit down and kill zombies for you to have your friends try. Sure you can have them start a new game (just make sure they DO NOT SAVE), but it does take a little while to get into the actual Zombie killing.

Strangely, they don't allow you to get some sort of attack mode until after you beat the story mode.

 

2) You can only save at pre-determined locations. One is the bathrooms scattered throughout the mall and the other is at your "home base" of the security room. Even though these points are marked on the maps it isn't always easy or convienent to get to them.

 

3) When you die, you have a choice: Either go back to your last save point (no matter how many hours ago it was) OR "save and quit game" (sounds harmless doesn't it?) means that you QUIT YOUR ENTIRE GAME but you "get to" start over again with your current rank and abilities (the game has some RPG-ish features).

If you accidentally "save and quit game" (like I did) thinking that I could hop back in where I died the next time I turned on the system, get ready for a big shock! Sure starting over with a pumped-up character is nice, but replaying hours of gameplay is not.

 

4) The "real-time" nature of the game creates all sorts of save issues. The game takes place over 72 hours in a mall, essentially real-time (although the hours pass much quicker than real-life hours). You are often given several objectives (usually involving saving survivors) and you only have so much time to complete these objectives before the survivors are killed. This makes the gameplay very time sensitive. You are often desperately hurrying around the mall trying to reach someone before they die. Needless to say this doesn't make it very easy or convienent to keep heading to the bathrooms to save your game.

This is a fundamental issue with the save system. In your rush to complete time sensitive objectives you have to decide if it is worth it to go to a save point or not. If you don't (or forget to in your rush) and you do end up dying you suddenly remember that you've now wasted several hours of gameplaying and zombie killing that is all GONE (unless you want to start all over again, then you can keep your stat upgrades)!

EVEN WORSE (almost unacceptable) is that there are certain missions you have to complete or your game ends. It is completely possible (even relatively easy) to save your game at a point where it is physically impossible to complete these objectives. If you accidentally do this, you have NO CHOICE but to start the entire game over again.

These vital mission objectives aren't even that clearly marked, so it is entirely possible that you save your game at a point in the mall not realizing that within a few minutes you have to be all the way on the other side of the mall to complete a mission that you are REQUIRED to pass. No matter what you try to do upon restarting from your save point, you just cannot make it in time across the mall. You literally have no choice but to "save and quit" meaning you start all the way over again.

 

The strange thing is, the game is still compelling and fun despite this. I really enjoy killing zombies and the graphics and story are absolutely perfect for the genre.

Capcom has always just had some really clunky elements in their game (the controls in most of the RE series?), and this game is no different. Perhaps Japanese gamers enjoy a little masochism in their games, but I for one, do not.

Although the save system certainly induces a bit of fear in me not to die (when I realize I haven't saved in hours), I would much prefer to be able to save the game at will and make multiple saved games so I could hop back to a previous point if I got myself stuck in an unsolvable situation.

It just seems like a no-brainer to me: If you're going to make a game "real-time" then none of the objectives should HAVE to be completed. If you're going to have some objectives that HAVE to be completed, then those objectives should not have a time limit on them. Seems simple to me, but I don't make video games.

 

Anyway, go get the game if you like the genre or the game concept seems interesting to you. Just be warned about the wacky save system (I wish I had been).

 

Thanks for the heads up Yak, this is at the top of my que on Game Fly and I hope to get it this week as I really enjoyed the demo also.

One quick note about the 1 save per profile thing.  Can't you just create another profile on your 360 HD for each of your friends to try the game?  You can have any number of profiles on the HD, they don't all link to an XBL account, but they do all each have their own game saves, etc. 

 

Soem tips about playing:

1) You will not be able to save everyone. This is a zombie movie, people are going to die despite your best efforts. If you insist on saving everyone you are going to just end up hyper frustrated, espeically if you want to push the casefiles.
2) Contrary to what Yak said, the game does not end if you miss certain missions. He's talking about the "Casefiles," which are the missions that reveal the story of what's really going on. If you fail to complete a casefile within a specified period of time you cannot complete further casefiles. You still can, however, rescue civilians and get out of the mall via helicopter when the 72 hour time limit expires. You just don't get the "best" ending. Yak's also wrong about warning - the casefiles *do* show up in your mission list and whenever you're in a situation where a new one won't appear it's explicit about what time you have to be back at the base. Time management is just part of the game. I think the reason people get frustrated by this is that there are relatively few games where you honestly have to manage time. We're used to games like Oblivion where you can ignore the universe for years and nothing progresses. That being said, yes it's frustrating if you screw up and save with no time to complete a casefile. Fortunately the first "set" of casefiles takes maybe fifteen minutes to complete, by the time you finish it you should have a handle on time management.
3) Go ahead and restart a few times. Very early on in the game there's an opportunity to get about 30k experience (about four minutes in, when you reunite Jeff and his wife take a picture - it's worth 10k and you get 20k for rescuing them). Get yourself to where you have the jump kick and the zombie jump moves; these are crucial for navigating.
4) The zombies are NOT the enemy! Yeah it's fun to kill them, but that wastes time. The zombies are an environmental obstacle, they're no different than a pit in Super Mario Brothers. Only fight zombies if you have to - to clear a path for civilians, or if there are just too many to avoid.
5) Learn what weapons are good. Baseball bats let you clear through lots of zombies. Knives are also great for this. Some weapons are brutal but slow (the sledgehammer); be more careful with these. Also be careful what weapons you give civilians (yes you can give them eapons, do so - it makes the escorts somewhat more bearable. You can also give them health items). Giving a civilian a baseball bat will let him knock down lots of zombies, but he'll hit you too. Same with guns.

MINOR SPOILER BELOW



6) WHen you meet the psychos on the jeep and finally kill them - DESTROY THE JEEP. Yes it's fun to drive over zombies and you can kill hundreds, but if you do not destroy the jeep the psychos will respawn. This is super frustrating to figure out the hard way.

Jeff:

If you miss certain casefiles, the game does indeed end. It happened to me. Not all of them do so, but some of them do. The one that did it to me was the casefile I had to meet Sophie and the black guy (can't remember his name) back in the security room at a certain time. I wasn't there and the game ended.


Also, how do you kill the convicts? They seemed invulnerable to shooting attacks. I wouldn't mind some tips (spoilers) on that one.

Only way I've killed the Convicts so far is I shot out the gunner with a few mags of pistols. I ducked behind some zombies so they mowed them down instead of me and it worked decently.

How to kill the convicts:

1) Get an SMG. There is one in the water fountain in the area with the hardware store and the gym. A sniper rifle works as well, I'm told. Pistols are all but useless; you just can't do enough damage in a short period of time.
2) Go out to the area the convicts are in. If you have followers send them to a place with few zombies. Give a few of them pistols too.
3) Get the convicts near some trees, or a wall. Eventually the jeep will run into it and they'll get stuck. at this point, hose down the gunner with SMG fire. 2-3 good bursts will drop him.

Once the gunner is dead this fight is a piece of cake; just grab the 50 cal from the back of the jeep (just like any other weapon). Spray the other two convicts. Done and done! Again, SPRAY DOWN THE JEEP with 50 cal fire. Driving it is not worth the lost time, and you have to destroy it anyway. You'll know it's wrecked when smoke rises from it and you can no longer climb into the driver's seat.

Jeff,

Thanks for the reply, but it's too little too late.

Despite my earlier gripes, once I came to terms with starting over, I fully embraced the concept. You see, when I used to play RPGs I'd be the kind of player that will sit around killing pleebs for like 40 hours so that when I get to the boss I completely destroy him without breaking a sweat.

I wasn't going into Dead Rising with my RPG mindset on, so I was frustrated at the thought of doing things over again (although I still think the game would be better without that element).

What I'm trying to say is that I've started over like 4 times, and I'm like level 40, which makes the game a lot easier and more fun, IMO. I managed to take out the Convicts just using 3 pistols and 3 or 4 bottles of wine to heal myself.

I did find out (online) that even if you destroy their jeep they still comeback after 24 hours; annoying bastards.

Luckily, on my 2nd or third play through I found the shortcut that allows to essentially skip that outdoor area for the most part, so I've just been ignoring the stupid buggers.

Overall, I'm really enjoying the game now.

Heh, yeah. Good thing you don't play MMORPGS yak.

Argh. It's less than 24 hours for them to come back - more like 2 or 3. Or maybe they just respawn at midnight, I duno - but they just respawned on me at about 3AM after I killed them right after 7PM.

Jeff:

Have you found the secret shortcut that allows you to skip from Paradise Plaza to Wonderland? Once you do, you really don't have to venture outside nearly at all (besides saving Sophie from the convicts).


Malfred:

That's exactly why I have absolutely no interest in MMORPGs. I would get waaaaaay to adicted. Besides, I don't even play RPGs anymore. I just can't take the incredible amount of time I end up putting into them. The only reason I'm playing Dead Rising is because I like the killing of the zombies and the story. The RPG element is something I've accepted even though I wish it weren't there.

I'm interested to hear what other players "bread and butter" tactics/equipment selection is like for their games of Dead Rising. I'll put mine below if anyone's interested.


****SPOILERS BELOW****








Pretty much the best weapon I've found is the small chainsaw dropped by the insane clown. It keeps respawning everytime you return to Wonderland, so anytime I'm heading into that area I pick up another. It's got a very fast swing, good reach, tremendous damage and its only one-handed, so it can be stored away.

I combine that with the book I found in the bookstore with the Japanese tourists that allows you to keep all bladed weapons 3x as long. That means I stick almost predominately with bladed weapons. When I'm in the entrance plaza I head for the Antique shop and grab the battle axe and a katana. I also found a secret Katana hidden on top of the awning in Paradise plaza (around where you come out of the security room). You just go upstairs to the food court type restaurant ("Roasters") and then run out towards the mall like you're going to jump down to the first floor and look down: There's a Katana on that awning.

Any of these bladed weapons (including the machete you get from the psycho vietnam vet guy) last absolutely forever with the x3 bladed weapons book. There's also several places to grab a cleaver (a slightly more powerful version of the hunting knife): The main food court (in one of the stands), the pizza place in paradise plaza (near the movie theater), and the knife store in the north part of the mall right near the grocery store.


Also later on once I had more inventory slots, I started keeping the skateboarding book (also found in the store with the Japanese Tourists). It allows your skateboards to last a LOT longer and it allows you to jump with the board. Using the skateboard to shave minutes off your quests is very, very handy.

I pretty much have a pattern where I leave the security room, turn right, head up the stairs, grap a couple of skateboards and the Katana from the awning, drop down and run towards the doors outside. To the left of the doors outside (if you're facing the doors) are a couple of zombie cops with pistols. I kill them if I need a pistol or two, then I quickly stop by the Pizza place (to the right of the doors outside) to grab the cleaver. Then I head outside and use the skateboard to get wherever I need to go.

Unless the target it in Wonderland, in that case I use the bathroom shortcut to get over there and I make sure to pick up another small chainsaw while I'm there.



That's pretty much it for my basic strategy. I find that I'm pretty much sticking with the same core weaponry all the time now. What about everyone else? Do you keep switching around your weapons for exciting variety, or do you stick with the same ones like me?

I guess I'm the opposite. I can't stand action games because they're over
too quickly.

Oh yeah, and that agility thing.

Yak: thx for the info. I'm going to tackle Adam tonight - I've got about 15 minutes real time to do it; so we'll see how it goes.

It looks like the psychos respawn every day at midnight. :\

Anyone who's played Dead Rising but hasn't read this something awful article is in for a treat:

http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=4010


I laughed continuously for 5 minutes. Enjoy.

So I've played some more. Some notes:

- When you hit the mid twenties the game changes A LOT. Your attack power is high enough to kill most zombies at night easily, and you have enough inventory slots to have spare weapons to give to survivors. This makes the game MUCH more open and enjoyable IMO.
- Killing Adam is all but mandatory. He causes a mini chainsaw to spawn in Wonderland, which is an amazing weapon - it's a chainsaw that can be held in your inventory. It seriously butchers things; the two psychos I have fought with it have both died in literally 10-15 seconds. It's that good. It's also excellent for clearing hordes of zombies. Plus it's a tool, so it benefits from the engineering book. There are apparently two other books you can get to extend it's lifetime by 27x; I really don't see why you wouldn't ever do this.
- Not only does adam give you the mini chainsaw, but afterward you rescue a survivor that will open a secret passage from the women's restroom in Wonderland to the restroom in Paradise. This is huge; as it allows you to move about VERY quickly and entirely avoid Leisure Park if you like. Lots of Scoops in Wonderland, and there's also the ubiquitous mini-chainsaws you will want to have. This really is a phenomenal weapon - it will rip through anything and there is no idle animation to it, Frank swings it freely as he moves which means you are far less vulernable than you are wielding other weapons that have a cooldown animation during which you can be attacked.
- There are two excellent weapons in Paradise Plaza: the Katana and the SMG. The Katana can be found by going up to the coffee shop and hopping over the railing onto the orange awning; it's a good weapon (it's no mini chainsaw but it will one hit kill zombies; the drawback is the animation leaves frank slightly vulnerable as he recovers). The mini chainsaw can be had by going up the right staircase to the first landing and jumping from there to the blue awning. Follow the blue awning to the end and there is an SMG, which is a great ranged weapon.

Hey, aren't most of those tips the same ones I gave?

Glad to hear about the SMG, I hadn't found that yet. Thanks.

Probably they're the same ones.

Let me stress the AMAZINGNESS that is the mini chainsaw. Killing Adam is mandatory. Since getting the mini chainsaws I have yet to have a psycho fight last more than 15 seconds. I'm not joking either - I just rip psychos apart now. Even the ones that hit back can't stand up to chainsaws.

Question for every one who has gotten ending A. What, if anything, do you have to do to get ending A besides all the case files and getting to the heliport at noon? I did both, but I kept getting ending C and have since just started over. Also, is there anything you have to do about the special forces once they show up besides survive, and if that is the case, could you not just sit in the security room for the last 12 game hours? Finally, after you have completed all the 72 hour mode case files, but before the ending, do you have to go back to were Isabella is (carlito's hideout) after the special forces show up?

Any help would be appreciated.

as far as I know to get Ending A you have to:
1) Complete all case files
2) Visit Isabella twice afteward (once between midnight and 10AM, once after 10AM but before noon)
3) Be at the heliport at noon.

Yes you can absolutely sit in the security room for the last 12 hours (or Carlito's hideout, for that matter). However, special forces soldiers are worth 5000pp *and* are easily killed with chainsaws. You really really lose out on a big opportunity if you don't go hunting special forces.

Ah, I see. I didn't do the Isabella part. Thanks for the help.